Pupil Rivalry
by FaithIsAccidental
Summary: Two disciples of Ul, both come to want the same girl. Which one of them walks away with her?
1. Chapter 1

Juvia was sat alone at a table, a cup of tea in front of her. Her eyes were locked firmly on the raven haired ice mage at the other end of the guild hall. She watched him dreamily, mentally arguing with herself about whether or not she should attempt to get some sort of date out of him. On one hand, she wanted him to be her prince, like in the fairy tales she had heard whilst growing up. On the other hand, she already had a strong idea of what the answer was going to be. Exactly the same as what it had always been. No. That's probably what it was going to be. She sat there staring at him until hope finally prevailed over realism. The bluenete finished what little tea she had left in her cup before pushing herself up off the seat and made her way over to where Gray was sitting. She took long deep breaths as she walked, building up the confidence she'd need to ask him if he wanted to do something with her. After what seemed like the longest walk in history, she was finally standing over the ice mage.

"Gray-sa..." her voice trailed off as he looked up at her. His eyes seemed to sparkle slightly in the light.

"Yeah?" His voice was the same as ever.

"Juvia was wondering if you wanted to do something with her?" Gray had almost got used to all the attempts Juvia made to try and get him to go out with her. She had tried almost every trick in the book and none of them had seemed to work.

"No thanks". Gray turned back to the drink in front of him as he talked. Juvia had been expecting the first wod, but not really the second one. It seemed to dull the pain of rejection a bit. Then again, it wasn't really that painful to begin with since she had so many experiences of this.

Juvia left Gray to his drink and read the sheets of paper that were pinned to the request board. A few jobs of transportation, a few of catching some thieving low-lifes and one or two for recovering something important to someone. None of them seemed to appel too much to the water mage. There was basically nothing for her to do around the guild so she decided to just call it a day and head home.

The streets of Magnolia weren't as crowded as she thought they'd be at his time of day, which also made it pretty quiet.

"Juvia?" The bluenette turned on her heels at the sound of her own name. Her eyes came to rest on a familiar face.

"Lyon-kun?"

"Yeah, I just came into town"

"Why? Is there a job around here that Juvia doesn't know about?"

"No, I'm not on any jobs. I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me". The pair of mages stood in the street in silence for a few moments. The bluenette didn't have any plans for the night, and Lyon was quite a good-looking guy and he did have a good personality. Sort of.

"Yes, Juvia would like that".

"Great, I saw a great restaurant back there".

Juvia brst through the doors to the guild the next morning, a slight spring in her step. It was obvious to everyone that she would be in a good mood for the rest of that day. The bluenette practically skipped to the bar before taking a seat and ordering her usual cup of tea.

"You seem to be in a good mood Juvia. Any particular reason?" The barmaid lived up to her reputation of asking everyone in the guild about their lives.

"Juvia just had a good time last night".

"Must have been a really good time to leave you in a good mood the next day". Juvia just nodded in response. "So... What happened?"

"Juvia had dinner with Lyon-kun last night and we have plans for tonight too". The mention of Lyon peaked Gray's interest who was sat nearby. Mira left Juvia to her tea, her curiosity satisfied.

"You hear that Gray? Juvia went out with Lyon"

"Yeah, I heard"

"Guess you rejected her one too many times"

"Yeah, I guess I did".


	2. Chapter 2

Each day that week Juvia seemed to be in an even better mood than the day before and each day she had a different story of what she had done with Lyon the night before. She had even changed his honorific from kun to sama and Gray's from sama to kun. She wasn't pining over him like she usually did and she was going out with a different guy so she didn't see the point in calling him sama any more. She explained to him that it wasn't because she respected him any less and he seemed to take it pretty well. If he was being perfectly honest, Gray had to admit that this was annoying him. Of all the guys that she could be going out with, she had to choose him. One of the only people that could continuously get on his nerves. It wasn't just annoyance that he was feeling. There was something else too, something he hadn't really felt before. He was kinda missing Juvia focusing most, if not all, of her attention on him and he was kinda jealous that all that attention was going to Lyon, maybe because he always seemed too arrogant for his own good and he could barely stand him. Maybe he was being a bit selfish, but he wanted some of Juvia's attention for himself, the question was, how would he get it? His eyes darted back and forth across the guild hall as he pondered what he could do to get some time alone with her so she would have to give him some attention. Then the perfect solution caught his attention. The request board. A job would be a perfect excuse.

It only took fifteen minutes or so for Gray to find what he could only describe as 'the perfect job'. It was easy, payed pretty well and, best of all, it would take about two days to get there and another two to get back. Lots of time, meaning lots of attention. He had the sheet of paper in his hand, now all he had to do was get Juvia to come along with him. That should be easy, that was just going off past experiences though. He looked across the guild hall for the water mage. She was sat alone, for the first time in what seemed like ages but was really just a few days. The ice mage made his way across the guild to the table that the bluenette was sitting at.

"Hey, Juvia?"

"Yes, Gray-kun?"

"I found this job on the request board, and I was wondering if you..." The water mage cut him off before he had chance to finish his sentence.

"Sorry, Juvia is going with Lyon-sama tonight so she cant't go with Gray-kun". For once he could see how Juvia felt when he always rejected her. It kinda hurt. He had to giver her credit, he'd rejected her like that so many times and yet she kept trying and trying.

"Again? Haven't you gone out with him every day this week?"

"Yes, but Juvia enjoys Lyon-sama's company. She find him easy to talk to, he's kinda good looking and he treats Juvia nicely". Gray thought about those three reasons as to why she liked Lyon. He could only apply one of those things to himself, but it was up to other people to decide if he was good looking or not. He wasn't that easy to talk to and he had never really treat Juvia nicely. He always made up some lousy excuse as to why he couldn't do something with her and he always tried pushing her further and further away. Gray walked back to the request board. If Juvia wasn't going with him, he didn't really have any need in the job any more. He pinned the sheet of paper back onto the board before going to the bar to order a drink. At least he got some of Juvia's attention, not as much as he had wanted, but still. As he sat there with a drink in his hand, Gray decided that he wanted more of Juvia's attention. The best way to get what he wanted was to get Lyon out of the picture and the best way to do that is for him to take his place. he was just now realising that he wanted the girl. His intentions seemed quite selfish, but as he thought about it, they became less so. He did find her attractive, he did like her personality, most of the time, and he he did feel something for her. Now, he just needed to convince her that he was better than Lyon. How hard could that be?


	3. Chapter 3

Gray sat alone at the bar over a glass of iced tea, lost in his own thoughts about the newly formed couple of Juvia and Lyon. _Of all the people she could have picked, why him?_ It was if the water mage had deliberately chosen him, knowing how it would make him feel. _There has to be some way I can get her to pick me over him._ Juvia had always picked Gray over him, but he'd rejected her one too many times, a sad truth that he was now realising as he came to notice that he was missing the way she used to stare at him from behind a pillar, following his every move whilst trying to be stealthy about it, unsuccessfully of course. The ice mage hated the fact that this was such a big deal to him, but he couldn't carry on as if everything was normal. Maybe if she had picked someone other than him. As he thought about it, he wondered if he would actually be ok with her dating someone else, someone other than him or Lyon. He probably wouldn't. He had become oddly possessive of her, wanting her to be his. Maybe it was just his jealousy talking, but it did give him an idea. If her going out with someone else made him envious and made him want to make her his, perhaps it would work the other way around. If he started dating someone else, maybe the water mage would get jealous and decide she wanted her Gray-sama back. It'd have to be someone that he knew would get to her. The only person that the raven haired ice mage could think of was Juvia's old 'love rival', Lucy.

Gray looked over at the table where the celestial wizard was sat. His face paled as he noticed who she was sat with. Of course she would be sat around with Natsu and Happy. The trio of them hardly ever left each other's sides. Asking Lucy out on a date would be an easy enough task. Putting up with the torment he'd receive from the dragon slayer and blue feline for doing said task was another matter all together. Gray internally debated whether he should wait for the two of them to leave before going over to ask Lucy, but who knew when that would be? He wanted to do this fast. The sooner the better. The sooner the ice mage did this, the sooner he'd be able to get Juvia back. At least that's what he hoped would come from this. Figuring that waiting would do nothing to help his current situation, Gray decided to just go and ask now and put up with the mocking of Natsu and Happy. If he didn't show any reaction to them, they'd tire of it and move on to something else. On the other hand, them knowing about it could work to Gray's favour. If the two of them kept going on about it, the news would spread around the guild in a matter of seconds with how loud those two could be and it would reach Juvia in no time. Gray stood up and made his way over to the trio, leaving half a glass of iced tea behind where he had just been sat.

"Hey, Lucy?" The blonde looked up upon hearing her name.

"Oh, hey Gray. What's up?" She smiled as she spoke, always being happy to talk to anyone in the guild hall and always eager to make a new friend or to keep up relations with ones that she already had.

"So, uhhh..." The ice mage rubbed the back of his head with right hand as he started to question whether or not this would actually be a good idea. He quickly tried to think of something else to say to try and cover up why he had actually come over here but his mind was drawing one huge blank. Seeing no alternative, Gray finished his original question. "Listen, would you like, wanna go out sometime? Like, just the two of us".

"he llllllikes..." Happy's usual catchphrase for whenever something romantic happened around him was cut off by a sudden downpour of a mixture of spit and what Natsu was drinking. "NATSU! GROSS!" The ice mage looked at Natsu and then back at Lucy. They both looked as stunned as each other.

"Ummmm..." Before Lucy could give her answer, the pink haired dragon slayer threw his chair back as he stood up, roaring a challenge at Gray for having the nerve to ask what he just did. The ice mage simply ignored him and continued to look at Lucy, silently pressing her for an answer to his question. "Uhhh... I guess?" Gray figured that would do.

"You free tonight?" he enquired.

"I should be, yeah"

"Great, I'll pick you up from yours at 8". Gray spun on his heels and headed back toward the bar, leaving a very confused Lucy, a dripping wet Happy and a hot-headed Natsu still shouting challenges behind. _Just gotta get through tonight and spread the details about it tomorrow morning. That should do the trick._ The ice mage went back to his drink, content that he had put the first part of his plan into action. Actually, thinking about it, right now that was the only part of his plan that he had managed to actually put together. He would just have to hope that everything else worked out like he wanted them to.


	4. Chapter 4

It was 11:00 in the morning by the time that Gray pushed his way through the large double wooden doors as he entered the guild hall. It was as lively as ever as he took his first couple of steps further into the building but it fell almost silent when people noticed him. The only thing that this guild loved more than it's over enthusiastic celebrations, which more often than not ended up in a huge free for all brawl between everyone in the guild, was the thirst for gossip that everyone seemed to share. It wasn't long before the ice mage was bombarded with questions regarding his date with Lucy the night before. The questions from people such as Mira, Levy and Lisanna were innocent and focused on what happened during the actual date such as:

"How was it?"

"Where did you go?"

"What did you do?" But the questions from Cana, Macao and Wakaba were more to do with things that would have happened after the date when the two of them were alone, most of which he didn't even dignify with an answer, but he gave some of them the straight forward answer of 'no'. When he was finally free of the interrogation from the guild, Gray scanned the room, looking to see if Juvia was in yet, knowing full well that she probably was. The only reason she wouldn't be here at this time was if she was on a job. As usual, the bluenette was sat alone on a table in the far corner of the guild with a cup of tea set in front of her, steam still rising from the cup, showing how recently she had got it. The raven haired mage walked casually over to her before sitting opposite her.

"Hey Juvia". He smiled slightly as he spoke, making sure to come across friendly. Juvia raised her head to look at him.

"Hello Gray-kun". It had been quite a while since she had started dating Lyon but Gray still wasn't used to having the honorific kun at the end of his name, not from her anyway, and it was still pretty annoying each time he heard it come from her lips.

"So, how are today?" He decided to make some small talk before getting on to the topic he originally came over to discuss with her, that way it would be less awkward when he brought it up. Hopefully.

"Juvia is good, thank you for asking. How are you?" Her face remained straight as she spoke, as though she was talking to anyone other person.

"I'm fine. So you-" Gray was cut off by the water mage before he could finish what he was saying.

"Only fine? Juvia heard that you were on a date with Lucy-san last night. Did it not go well?" Gray smiled to himself, content with the fact that the news had reached her.

"Yeah, it went great"

"Juvia is glad that Gray-kun has finally started dating". He waited to see if she would say or do anything to suggest that she was frustrated or angry that he was seeing someone other than her, but she actually seemed glad, she was even smiling and it didn't seem forced.

"So how are things going between you and Lyon?"

"Things are going really well, Lyon-sama is really kind to Juvia and listens to her and is considerate..." She trailed off as she started to think about him just like she used to do with Gray, just rubbing salt into his emotional wound. The ice mage gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to jump out of his seat and scream about how annoyed he was about her doing all this stuff for Lyon when it should be him instead.

"Glad to hear it". He tried to sound convincing even though he was lying through his teeth, but he seemed to do a good enough job.

"Thank you, Gray-kun. Now if you'll excuse Juvia, she has to go on a job". The bluenette left the ice mage sat alone at the table as she went to grab a sheet of paper from the request board and took it over to the bar to inform Mira which job she was about to do. That wasn't even close to matching how that conversation had transpired in Gray's head. He was hoping that him having a date with Lucy would make Juvia so jealous of her old love rival that she would feel the need to keep her away from him again so she would leave Lyon and come to him instead. The old Juvia would do that in a heart beat. Maybe she was over him after all. He shook the thought from his head, refusing to believe that after all the times she had stalked him, bought him things, made him things and openly declared her love for him that she would just completely give up on him one day. Well, maybe just one date isn't enough. If I let this go on for a bit longer, maybe she'll choose me again? Gray mentally reassured himself, telling himself that she'd come back to him, sooner rather than later.


	5. Chapter 5

Gray sat alone at a table over a drink, still downcast that his plan of dating Lucy hadn't worked as quickly as he had planned. In his ideal world he would go on one date and Juvia would be right there, too jealous to let that relationship stand and demanding that Gray pursued a relationship with her instead of that blonde. Now he knew how Juvia felt when her ideal situations never came to fruition. It kind of sucked. The ice mage finished off his drink and decided to go on a few more dates with the Celestial mage. Even if she hadn't shown it to him, Gray was adamant that it'd had some kind of effect on her, and more dates meant more jealousy and that meant a higher chance of the bluenette ending her current relationship to chase after a new one with Gray. He shook his head, realising that he was now fantasising just like the water mage would do and headed towards the table that Lucy, Natsu and Happy were sat at. Happy immediately alerted Lucy to his presence as soon as he saw him coming over.

"Hey Gray". She was as cheery and friendly as ever. Natsu wasn't so friendly to him, glaring daggers and silently challenging him to a brawl that was sure to envelop the whole guild. Gray ignored the Dragon Slayer, much to his disappointment, and responded to the blonde's greeting.

"Hey Lucy. I was wondering if you were free tomorrow night?" Happy immediately started giggling behind his front paws, saying what he always said when he someone showed any sort of interest in anyone else.

"He llllllllikes you". The both of them merely ignored the exceed's attempt of mockery and focused on the current situation.

"Another date?"

"Yeah, last time was fun. Unless you didn't think it went well?" He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"No, no, no, no". She shook her head frantically showing that she too had found the night an enjoyable experience. "I shouldn't be doing anything tomorrow so yeah, I think I'm free". Lucy wore her usual smile across her face.

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow night then".

Juvia watched the conversation from across the guild. She wasn't able to hear any of the words that the two of them were exchanging but after what she had heard about what they had done last night she speculated that they were arranging another romantic get together. She hated to admit it but she was feeling jealousy. She knew that she shouldn't since she was currently dating Lyon but no matter how fond she was becoming of him and how much she was starting to like him now that she was actually getting to know him, deep down inside the bluenette knew that the only reason she had started dating Lyon was to act as a replacement for the other ice mage. She slowly sipped her tea as she watched the tow of them continue talking, envy slowly and silently building up inside her.

Lucy walked home with Plue like she always did. She enjoyed the company it provided. It was just nice to have around. The Celestial mage found that her thoughts had wandered to the subject of Gray. More specifically she found herself wondering why he had just suddenly came over and asked her out on a date after showing virtually no interest in her. Was he suddenly attracted to her? Had she recently started doing something that made him like her? She ran every explanation she could think of through her head, one at a time. Most of them were dismissed as soon as it popped into her head but there were a couple that she thought could be possible. She reached her front door when she thought of the only possibility left. Was he just dating her because Juvia had started dating Lyon? She dismissed it like most of the others. She hadn't seen him interact with Juvia in any way that would suggest that he would do something like that. But Gray had asked her out around about the same time as those two had started dating. Each time she came up with a theory that would disprove that explanation, she immediately thought of something to support it. By the time she went to bed, she had a pretty good argument stacked up for both sides. Lucy figured that the best thing to do would to just ask Gray. She'd probably see him in the guild tomorrow and if not, she would definitely see him on the date.

Lucy saw Gray early then next day at around 10:00 sat alone with his usual drink of iced tea and immediately remembered the question she had for him. Dismissing herself from the present company of Natsu and Happy, she headed over to him.

"Hey, Gray?"

"Hey". The ice mage replied whilst picking up his drink.

"I wanted to ask you something". He turned his whole body to face her, an indication that she now had his full, undivided attention.

"Go ahead"

"I was wondering, does our going out have anything to do with Juvia and Lyon dating?" He froze for a millisecond, unsure of what to do.

"Of course not. Why?" It was extremely rare for Gray to lie to someone, usually he had nothing to hide. But when he did lie, he always tilted his head slightly to the left. The blonde sighed as she noticed the slight movement.

"I think I have something I need to do with Natsu tonight so I can't make it, sorry"

"That's fine". Gray watched Lucy walk away, realising that his whole plan to try and get Juvia by using Lucy had failed so spectacularly. Now he had to think of something else, a different approach to this scenario. If he could think of one way, he could think of two. How hard could it be? And this time he'd make sure he didn't fail.


End file.
